Arabs Riot in Jerusalem Over Archeological Dig

By JOEL BRINKLEY, Special to the New York Times

Published: July 4, 1988

JERUSALEM, July 3—
A riot erupted in the Old City of Jerusalem this morning when Israeli authorities began excavating an ancient canal near the Western Wall and Al Aqsa Mosque, among the holiest sites for Jews and Moslems.

After Arabs, fearful that Jews were trying to dig under the mosque, put out a call from the mosque's minaret, hundreds of Moslem faithful attacked the Jewish workers with bottles and stones at their 3-by-4-foot excavation site.

Israeli police tried to disperse the rioters with rubber bullets and tear gas, which enveloped most of the Old City. The rioting, which lasted two hours, eventually spilled outside the walls into the streets of East Jerusalem. Shops were closed and the walled city was sealed to visitors.

No one was seriously injured, but Palestinians reported that at least six people were treated for tear-gas inhalation and 20 others for injuries caused by rubber bullets.

Since Israel took over administration of the Old City after the 1967 war, attempts at archeological excavation in the area have often led to protests and sometimes to violence.

This time, Israel's religious affairs minister, Uri Mintzer, said the Government had informed Moslem leaders of the planned excavation, which he described as ''a technical opening.''

''The one thing we didn't give them was the timing,'' he said, ''because we wanted to avoid this sort of gathering.''

The excavation was planned to examine the ancient underground canal, thought to have been dug in the second century B.C., ''clean the whole area and then cover it up'' with a sewer cap, Mr. Mintzer said. Fear of 'Fanatic Jews'

Abu Feras Ashaya, director of the Islamic Trust, which owns the area of the excavation in the Moslem quarter of the Old City, said the trust had not been notified. He asserted that Arabs were called in because the excavation was being carried out by ''fanatic Jews.''

Later, the Islamic High Council issued a complaint, saying, ''We believe the group was trying to create a passageway under the mosque in order to allow Jewish fanatic groups to walk under the holy area.''

Israeli and Moslem officials met this afternoon to discuss the melee, and Israel agreed to postpone the excavation for several days.

Photo of school children protecting themselves from tear gas (Retuers)